Henry Wong Pak-yu ( zh, t=王百羽; born 15 February 1991) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He is the spokesman of the local community group Tin Shui Wai New Force and also a member of the Information Technology subsector in the

Election Committee The Election Committee is the electoral college in Hong Kong that selects the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, elects 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong Kong which states ...

. In 2019, he won in the District Council election and became a member the

Yuen Long District Council The Yuen Long District Council () is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Yuen Long District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Yuen Long District currently consists of 46 members, of which the district is d ...

for Tin Heng.

Biography

Wong graduated from the

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Sai Kung District, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991, it was the territory's third institution to be granted university status, and the firs ...

(HKUST) with a

Bachelor of Engineering A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded to a college graduate majoring in an engineering discipline at a higher education institution. In the United Kingdom, a Ba ...

degree, majoring in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

. He started his career in the financial industry as an IT Support/Help Desk Engineer. Inspired by the

Umbrella Revolution A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after t ...

, Wong joined the Tin Shui Wai New Force at the end of 2014 and later became a spokesperson of the organisation. Wong participated in the 2015 District Council election, running in Tin Heng against incumbent Luk Chung-hung of the

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) towards Hong Kong. The term " ...

Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) is a pro-Beijing labour and political group established in 1948 in Hong Kong. It is the oldest and largest labour group in Hong Kong with over 420,000 members in 253 affiliates and associated ...

(FTU). He received 26.8% of the vote, losing the election to Luk. He also stood as a second candidate with Wong Chun-kit of the

localist camp Localist camp or localist and self-determination groups refers to the various groups with localist ideologies in Hong Kong. It emerged from post-80s social movements in the late 2000s which centred on the preservation of the city's autono ...

Youngspiration Youngspiration is a localist political party in Hong Kong founded in 2015. It emerged after the 2014 Hong Kong protests (often dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution") with an agenda of protection of Hong Kong people's interests and culture again ...

in the 2016 Legislative Council election. His ticket received 9,928 votes, ranking 14th place and was not elected. In the December Election Committee Subsector elections, Wong ran in the Information Technology subsector under the "IT Vision" banner. He was elected as one of the 1,200 electors who had the power to elect the Chief Executive in 2017. Wong nominated retired judge

Woo Kwok-hing Woo Kwok-hing, GBS, CBE, QC (; born 13 January 1946) is a Hong Kong retired judge. He was the vice-president of the Court of Appeal of the High Court and former chairman of the Electoral Affairs Commission (EAC) and commissioner on Interc ...

, but decided to cast a

blank vote A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms a ...

in the election to protest the undemocratic electoral system. In 2019, Wong challenged Luk Chung-hung again in the 2019 District Council election within the Tin Heng constituency. Riding with the

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...

wave amid the anti-extradition protests, Wong defeated Luk with 61.2% of the votes and was elected to the

. In July 2020, Wong ran in the pro-democracy primaries for the 2020 Legislative Council election in the

District Council (Second) The District Council (Second) functional constituency () was a functional constituency in the elections for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong which was created in the 2012 constitutional reform package. It was the largest functional constitu ...

constituency. With 71,706 votes, he came in third after

Kwong Chun-yu Roy Kwong Chun-yu (; born 9 February 1983) is a Hong Kong politician and novelist. He is a member of the Democratic Party and former member of the Yuen Long District Council for Pek Long. He became a member of the Legislative Council of Hong ...

and

Lester Shum Lester Shum Ngo-fai ( zh, t=岑敖暉; born 11 June 1993) is a Hong Kong social activist and politician. He was a leader of the 2014 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and served as deputy secretary-general of the Hong Kong Federation of Stu ...

, while surpassing James To, the longest-serving incumbent lawmaker. Wong was nominated as one of the four candidates in the general election. On 22 November 2020, Wong, together with Kowloon City's district councillor Timothy Lee Hin-long, were arrested by commercial crime police. They were accused of making false documents to "cheat the government" out of nearly HK$5 million for election expenses in relation to the postponed 2020 Legislative Council elections. Moreover, a large collection of imitation firearms (8 rifles, 17 pistols, imitation ammunition and a wooden bow) was found at Wong's home; as a consequence, he was additionally charged with possession of imitation firearms. On 6 January 2021, Wong was among 53 members of the pro-democratic camp who were

arrested An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be Interroga ...

under the national security law, specifically its provision regarding alleged subversion. The group stood accused of the organisation of and participation in the primary elections of July 2020. Wong was released on bail on 7 January. On 28 February 2021, Wong was charged, along with 46 others, for subversion. He was denied bail in September, with a judgement releasing in 11 October considering the argument of the prosecution that his active participation of international front, which is calling for sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese government officials.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Pak-yu 1991 births Living people District councillors of Yuen Long District Hong Kong democracy activists Hong Kong localists Alumni of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021 Political prisoners held by Hong Kong